Virginia Hosts High Point in Home Opener

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Date and Time Monday, Nov. 11, 2013, 7 p.m. Location Charlottesville, Va. | John Paul Jones Arena
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Nov. 10, 2013

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia women’s basketball team (0-1) plays its first home game of the 2013-14 season, hosting High Point (1-0) on Monday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena.

Virginia has won its last 13 home openers and has never lost a home opener at John Paul Jones Arena. This will be the second time that Virginia has played its first home game of the year against High Point. In 2008, the two teams opened their

Virginia is 2-0 overall against High Point, including a 67-41 victory on Nov. 16, 2011, the last meeting between the two.

High Point opened its season on Saturday (Nov. 9) with a 79-58 victory over Newberry. The Panthers had three players in double-figures including center Stacia Robertson who scored 19 points with seven rebounds. High Point had two players come off the bench to contribute double-digit points, Kaylah Keys with 15 and DeAnneisha Jackson with 10.

Virginia is trying to bounce back from a 63-46 loss in its opener at James Madison on Friday (Nov. 8). The loss snapped a streak of eight-straight years in which the Cavaliers had won the season-opener. It was only the fifth time in the history of the program that UVa opened the season with a loss. Virginia won its first 21 consecutive season-openers, with its first-ever season-opening loss coming in 1994 when UVa fell 86-84 to No. 16 Kansas.

Virginia has never lost two games in a row to start a season.

Sophomore guard Faith Randolph scored 18 points against JMU, putting up 13 in the first half. The 18 points was one shy of matching her career high of 19 that she scored in the 2012-13 regular-season finale against No. 24 Florida State. Randolph also made a career-high eight free throws (out of a career-high 10 attempts) against the Dukes. Randolph, who averaged 5.0 points per game last season, closed out the 2012-13 campaign by following-up her FSU game with a 15-point performance in the ACC Tournament against Boston College.

The Cavaliers were outrebounded by James Madison, 49-26. The -23 rebounding margin was the largest deficit since being outrebounded by Maryland 48-23 in the 2012 ACC Tournament. Senior guard Ataira Franklin led the Cavaliers with five rebounds, including three O-boards.

Freshman forward Sydney Umeri was in the starting lineup in the first game of her collegiate career. She played 30 minutes in the season-opener at JMU, scoring four points with three rebounds, a steal and an assist.

Redshirt-freshman guard Raeshaun Gaffney also made her delayed debut at JMU. Gaffney came off the bench, scoring eight points in 16 minutes. She also had two steals and a rebound. Gaffney missed the entire 2012-13 season recovering from shin surgery.

Senior guard Kelsey Wolfe was in the starting line-up in the season-opener at JMU, playing her first minutes since suffering an ACL injury to her right knee on Feb. 17 against Maryland. Wolfe played 32 minutes, scoring five points with two assists, a steal and a rebound.

Senior guard Lexie Gerson also made her return to the court at James Madison, coming off the bench to score two points with two rebounds and two steals in 26 minutes. Gerson was sidelined for the entire 2012-13 season after undergoing hip surgery last September and had not played in a game since the March 24, 2012 WNIT quarterfinal game at JMU.

The Cavaliers finish off this two-game homestand on Saturday, Nov. 16 when they host Louisiana Tech at 2 p.m.